The Detective Wore Silk Drawers

A Sergeant Cribb mystery

For my second novel I stayed with sport as a background, this time bare-knuckle boxing. This form of pugilism was forbidden by law in late Victorian England, but Cribb discovers evidence that it continues in secret, confirmed by a headless body in the Thames whose hands were “pickled” for fighting. A young constable called Henry Jago is chosen to infiltrate the gang and he has to submit to a rigorous programme of purging, pickling and training. Moreover, Cribb needs to intervene at the crucial time to prevent young Jago from being battered to death.